Theater Licenser MTI Elevates Drew Cohen To Global CEO

MTI, one of the world’s biggest theatrical licensing agencies, has named its president Drew Cohen as global CEO. The 15-year company veteran will take on both posts and comes on the heels of MTI’s recent expansion into Europe and Australia/New Zealand.

Cohen will oversee domestic and international strategy for the company, continuing to develop business opportunities and strategic alliances in the U.S. and internationally. MTI chairman Cameron Mackintosh and Freddie Gershon, who had been CEO of MTI for the last 29 years, made the announcement today. Gershon now takes on the title of co-chairman.

“I am most appreciative of the confidence that Freddie and Cameron have shown in me,” Cohen said. “It is hard to adequately express the sense of privilege I feel in being able to represent the authors and musicals in MTI’s catalogue and the encouragement we all feel in doing what we do to deliver these musicals to the broadest possible audience and afford authors the freedom to create new shows. That MTI was co-founded by Frank Loesser, one of my lifelong heroes, has been the icing on the cake.”

Before MTI, Cohen was VP and GM of GlassNote Records and before that was an attorney at New York-based Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

Music Theatre International grants professional theaters and amateur groups and schools the rights to perform musicals from Broadway, the West End and more. It works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, music materials and other resources to more than 70,000 theatrical organizations in the U.S. and in more than 60 countries worldwide.